Jason and May

I appreciate you answering. Thank you. We have tried to put together a comprehensive packet, so to speak. I’ve been to visit 5 times over just about 2 years. Lots of pictures together, with her family, evidence of the travel and so on. I think we may be well covered in the bonafides. The lack of comprehensive evidence and official explanation for her deportation has always concerned me a little, though. I’m glad there’s evidence of no criminal conviction in the country, but, holy cow, trying to get any kind of report to provide an official explanation and documentation was like turning water into wine. Thanks again for answering! 🤙🏾

Were you able to obtain an actual police report? My wife was detained and eventually deported from Jordan. We were able to obtain a Certificate of No Criminal Conviction, but we were unable to obtain a police report or any report at all. I’m a bit concerned about this come interview time, but we’re also just rolling with this and will address it if it needs addressed. Though, I’m curious about your situation.

CR versus IR has never mattered to me. I understand the dynamics, and everyone's perspectives and personal feelings on how they choose to approach their journeys, I can absolutely respect. In our situation, we prefer being together. The additional hassles and expenses should she have immigrated sooner was, in our situation, of zero consequence. That said, at this point, the only positive I can ferret out of this mess in Manila is that we're obviously going to end up bypassing that, however unintentionally. I appreciate your advice, nonetheless.

We're CR1, going on 8 months since DQ. Given the IR expedites that just happened, we expect another 3 to 6 months, at minimum, for my wife to receive an interview letter while USEM works through the IR interviews, unless they substantially increase the number of CR interviews they do monthly. We will convert to IR1 on June 3.

I have flown back and forth to Phils many times. I flew EVA once, and I never used them again. I will always, without hesitation, pay more for Korean Air or ANA. The entire flight experience, from the seating to the storage to food to the flight paths are just--leagues--better. In my opinion. To your question: I did not experience and have not heard of EVA gate agents being any more or less versed in entry and exit requirements than any other airline. In that respect, they in fact seemed very on task and knowledgable.

It's certainly easy enough to look up visa statistics and compare issuances of certain visa types, as another poster did. Once you do that, the reality is stark: The K3's not dead, but it's not really alive either. Viability is there. As CCat mentioned, there's no harm in filing. If it's approved and that's what you wanted, awesome. If not, there's no negative effect on processing either.

In all the various groups, I’ve seen only IRs posting they received notice of expedite. I suspect USEM is working through the IR backlog. Which is bad news for CRs. Because, given the wildly low ratio of IR/CR interviews monthly compared to B, F, E, and even H categories, it will likely be another 3 to 6 months before anyone starts seeing ILs in numbers of any consequence, as USEM works its way through this current en masse request. I guess the good news is twofold: i) the backlog will be reduced slightly, and ii) those of us weeks away from IR conversion will be IR by the next time they request en masse, if they do so again.

Moving forward for some. Peeps who will IR1 in 2 weeks or 2 months will still be waiting another 2,4,6 months to get an interview letter. But at least this will move the queue forward. There is that. And on the unselfish side, it’s good for those who have been waiting years to be together at home.

Would be great if they did another mass of auto expedites, but I wonder why you received this and all these other cases from May forward are waiting in queue. I wonder if it is the IR2. Or maybe we’ll start seeing a number of posts the next couple of days or weeks similar to yours. Weird. Weird but awesome for you guys! Congratulations! 🥳🤙🏾

I would absolutely upload to CEAC and have the beneficiary take the most current tax year information. Prior to the tax filing deadline the IO might or might not request it; however, USEM does explicitly state, “…a photocopy of the sponsor’s most recent IRS transcript, or most recent tax return and any relevant W-2s, if the transcript is unavailable.” It would be very unfortunate to have any further delay due to unpreparedness. As mentioned in USEM’s interview information quoted above, photocopies of these documents are acceptable. No wet signature is necessary.

We’re only at 7 months post DQ. I fully expect she will not be in the U.S. until at least winter 2025. Unreasonable delay at 1 year or more post DQ? Interesting quandary, maybe, given the flexibility of TRAC criteria combined with the Department of State mandating embassies and consulates worldwide to prioritize non-immigrant visas. Welcome to the United States. (But are you really welcome, tho…?)

I saw those tourist visa stats. After I read your post I went to check the nonimmigrant stats just to see. The Department of State sure is proud to be reuniting families, they say. 🙄

Nothing to be concerned or infuriated about here. 😑 I’ve come to a point where I’ve decided I prefer not to spend 4k or more a retainer and writ, and so I’m (at my own discretion in some ways) powerless over this issue. And so I just wait. Until 2025, it appears. 🤷🏽‍♂️

The irony of the Department of State's proud end-of-year summary detailing the number of tourist, employment, and student visas approved, which was a seemingly astronomical amount, and then--tongue-in-cheek--in fine print trying to convincingly state they also proudly reunified an unprecedented number of families.... The month before I saw that press release, I had noted USEM approved something like 13,000 tourist visas, 51 CR1 visas, and just over 100 IR1s (I think those were the November 2023 stats). I'm in a Rod Serling screenplay, playing some dude who's simultaneously baffled but also not even a little bit surprised.

I saw that on their page. Well said about the embassy. Daft indeed....

Either they caught up preternaturally quickly, or responses to inquiries are all over the place....

I haven't heard of anyone receiving any interview letters for CR or IR whatsoever. What I have seen is this email I attached. Speculation is that wait times for interview wait times from DQ have lengthened from the previously oft-quoted 6 to 9 months to 12+ months from DQ. That said, no one seems to know much of anything. It's all been "I've heard," guesswork, and speculation. At least from my perspective, based on what I've seen. If you are able, save for a trip to see your wife, because you likely will need that renewal and time together during this time, while the Department of State continues to prioritize student, employment, and tourist visas, and USEM continues to quote "significant backlogs" of CR and IR cases (as top_secret mentioned above), which is probably true.

Where did you get this quote? I've seen this exact quote in another group, except the date was January 2023. I'm just curious. If beneficiaries have been waiting 2 years post-DQ for their IL, I would imagine there would be a lot more talk about this, but now my interest is piqued.

I agree. It absolutely depends on your federal district: Some districts will have substantial docket delays and some not so much. Some districts are very densely populated, some are not, etc. By rubber-band analogy, I’m referring to statutory interpretations of “within a reasonable time” and “unreasonably delayed.” The six-factor TRAC principles are (or should be) used to test unreasonable delay; however, courts have found these factors to be “hardly ironclad and sometimes suffer from vagueness,” and, likewise, “…function not as a hard and fast set of required elements, but rather as useful guidance insomuch as their roles may differ depending on the circumstances.” (Am. Hosp. ###’n, 812 F.3d, 189-190.) This has become known as a rubber-band test, because of the stretching of interpretation of “reasonable time.” Some courts deem more than 1-year unreasonably delayed, some 2, some more than that, depending on those various factors and circumstances of the TRAC elements, which are highly subjective and flexible or “stretchable.” Point being, there is almost no consistency in its application. Which, whether right or wrong, courts have deemed, as we see in the litigation citation, nearly impossible.

I’ve read the federal courts in 2023 had the highest level of mandamus filings ever, which has now created a substantial docket delay. But, if my wife remains DQ with no interview by August, 1 year from her DQ date, I have one hundred percent considered retaining an attorney to file a writ. Whether it goes anywhere, I guess, is a whole other issue, what with statutory interpretation of “reasonable time” being based on a rubber-band analogy. 😑

Those nonimmigrant visas, though.... DoS sure did prioritize them in 2023 and then shouted from the tree tops how great the U.S. is to visit, go to school, and work in, and how welcome and encouraged to apply tourists, students, and workers are, because they have the main priority of processing. So, meanwhile, USEM is issuing 50 CR1s in a month and nearly 14,000 tourist visas. So crazy to me.

I think, though, if we we’re talking a sweeping change in the Department of State in how visa interviews are processed, then we can’t look at only USEM. We would instead need to analyze all statistical data for every embassy. Which could be difficult, to say the least. I think if this is actually an issue up for debate as to reality, it might be best to inquire of USEM, the DoS, or a reliable immigration attorney how these interview dates are being processed and if what currently amounts to a is true.

What I personally think is: 1) The Facebook groups are dumpster fires 2) The OP of that post didn’t cite any credible source for their information beyond making sure to mention they have a visa consulting business (which could mean absolutely anything if it’s true) and they have “personally seen…” etc. “I’ve heard” is generally the lowest tier of unreliable. 3) I’ve noticed many posts in various Facebook groups intend to create fear and uncertainty through obvious disinformation. I have no idea what people get out of doing that. 4) If the Department of State were to lump all visa categories together and interview by PD for all categories, then K1s will be waiting years since certain family-based categories are issues based on lottery systems and allotted visas per year (at least that’s my understanding, anyway). I believe that’s one reason why they in fact do not operate that way. I can’t see any reason why they would do this, and I would love to know where the OP “heard” this. But…maybe it’s true. Anything is possible, I suppose, and nothing would surprise me at this point. If one of the members here posts a response that either affirms or discredits this, depending on the person who posts, I will invest much more in that response than the FB post, so I’m glad you posted this up here for response. Members here typically cite their sources of information and are far more credible. Just my .02. 🤙🏾

I suppose that's possible. Anything is possible. It doesn't seem plausible, though. Also, I'm generally significantly skeptical of most things I read in Facebook groups. There are so many people in those groups, and some people just spread mis- and disinformation. I have no idea what they get out of spreading disinformation. It's so weird to me. At the end of the day, I've adopted the stance that we just wait. Unless there is some statement issued by USEM or an email that someone posts along with their information (or some sort of hard evidence), I don't invest anything in what they share, because it's a crazy world and social media is a dumpster fire.

I feel you 100%, my friend.